Title

Authors

Date of this Version

2017

Document Type

Portfolio

Comments

Course portfolio developed as part of the UNL Peer Review of Teaching Project (peerreview.unl.edu)

Copyright (c) 2017 John Sangster

Abstract

This course portfolio documents the backward design of a senior-level design elective course in traffic engineering within the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Nebraska. An extensive discussion of stakeholder needs for the course is followed by an analysis of formative and summative feedback assessments that are designed to meet the needs of a heterogeneous group of students in the course. As a senior-level design elective, there is a wide variety of interest levels among participants in the course, varying from those who have experience with internships in the topic and offer letters to conduct work in this area post-graduation, all the way to those who believe they will never need to know the content of this course in the future, and signed up for it because they thought it would be easier than senior-level structures electives. As the only civil engineering program within the state, there is a very wide variety of scholarship levels among the students, ranging from those barely able to complete their engineering degrees up to those who should be pursuing graduate research. A description of course activities is provided, and student learning outcomes are reported and analyzed, as the instructor attempts to intentionally design a set of classroom assessments that will concurrently meet the needs of every student in the class. Finally, the results of student evaluations of the course are presented, and a discussion of next steps wraps up the course portfolio investigation.